Four Clark County residents honored as outstanding Nevada artists

By Cy Ryan

Friday, Oct. 1, 2010 | 3:45 p.m.

CARSON CITY – Three Clark County men and one woman are being honored as outstanding artists in Nevada this year.

The Nevada Arts Council has selected Matthew O’Brien of Las Vegas for his creative prose; Daren Thomas Johnson of Las Vegas for visual arts; Eugene Shapiro of Henderson for music composition and Queala Clancy of Las Vegas for her dance performance.

Each will receive a grant of $4,500 and will get an additional $500 for performing some public service.

Susan Boskoff, executive director of the council, said there were 93 applications submitted in the competition.

Six were selected for the top awards. They also included James D. Udall of Reno for his poetry and Nickolaus Larsen of Sparks for his work in the visual arts.

And nine artists received honorable mention and a $500 grant.

Clancy, now a freelance dancer, has worked with some of the top choreographers in the country and formerly performed with Donn Arden’s Jubilee in Las Vegas.

Johnson’s paintings and drawings have been exhibited in galleries across the nation. Shapiro is a jazz guitarist, composer, arranger, bandleader and educator.

O’Brien is an author and journalist whose first book “Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas”, details his work in the underground flood channels in Las Vegas.